Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area

Tanis Doe Post-doctoral Fellowship in Gender, Disability and Social Justice

Department: School of Disability Studies, Faculty of Community Services
Position supervisor: TBD School of Disability Studies
Contract length: Two years
Start date: September 2026
Hours of work per week: 36.25
Position type: Post-Doctoral Fellow
Rate of pay: $65,000 per annum
Work location: On-site or virtual (depending on supervisor)  in Toronto, Ontario
Deadline date: May 15 2026

About Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)

At the intersection of mind and action, Toronto Metropolitan University is on a transformative path to become Canada’s leading comprehensive innovation university. Integral to this path is the placement of equity, diversity and inclusion as fundamental to our institutional culture. Our current academic plan outlines each as core values and we work to embed them in all that we do.

Toronto Metropolitan University welcomes those who have demonstrated a commitment to upholding the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion and will assist us to expand our capacity for diversity in the broadest sense. In addition, to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment in Canada, we encourage applications from members of groups that have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, Indigenous peoples of North America, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, and those who identify as women and/or 2SLGBTQ+. Please note that all qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, applications from Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

As an employer, we are working towards a people first culture and are proud to have been selected as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and a Greater Toronto’s Top Employer for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. To learn more about our work environment, colleagues, leaders, students and innovative educational environment, visit www.torontomu.ca, check out @TorontoMet (external link)  and @ECItorontomet (external link)  on X, and visit our LinkedIn company page (external link) .

About the School of Disability Studies

Established in 1999, Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Disability Studies offers an undergraduate curriculum that brings disability and mad studies to the wider university and through undergraduate and postdoctoral training. The School’s award-winning  curriculum and scholarship is infused with social justice, critical analysis, and links to local and international arts and activism. 

The fellow will join a core team of faculty, postdoctoral fellows and research staff, contributing to the School’s strong tradition of high quality academic and public pedagogy. The School is at an exciting moment in its trajectory. The fellowship tenure will coincide with a period of engagement with program renewal, new curriculum development and the evolving operation of a disability studies research and teaching lab. The fellow will participate in the School’s and lab’s scholarly activities and will be encouraged and supported to apply for external funding.

The Opportunity

The Tanis Doe post-doctoral fellowship will provide an opportunity for emerging scholarship on animating disability movements in Canada and globally. 

Dr. Tanis Doe, the fellowship’s namesake, was a Fulbright Scholar and a professor at universities across Canada and the United States. As a Métis deaf woman with other disabilities, Dr. Doe was a widely respected disability rights advocate and active in local and international disability, queer and feminist movements.

Dr. Doe held spaces between academia and community, recognizing that each contributes to ensuring that our histories and the complexities of our lives are not forgotten. This fellowship allows for research that continues Dr. Doe’s work that centred the experiences of communities who worked to prevent institutional brutality, oppose colonialism, and foster social justice.

The Tanis Doe Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender, Disability and Social Justice will support the existing philosophy of the School of Disability Studies and its commitment to engaging and transforming exclusionary cultural, social and political systems. Particularly, we welcome applicants with community-based research programs that employ transnational, diaspora, post-colonial and/or Black Disability Studies who have completed doctoral studies within the past five) years in disability and mad studies scholarship

The Tanis Doe Postdoctoral Fellow will: 

  • Be a scholar who identifies as disabled/Deaf/mad 
  • Advance social justice scholarship that critically addresses understandings of and approaches to gender and disability identity, embodiment, rhetoric, social relations and systems within disability studies and/or mad studies. Create and implement a program of research that contributes to and/or extends research directions in the School of Disability Studies
  • Demonstrate productivity and skills in research proposal development and grant management, scholarly publications, and knowledge mobilization that is innovative, accessible and public
  • Engage and animate disability movements through activism, community and professional practice 
  • Contribute to the School’s culture of collegial exchange by maintaining a presence within the School
  • Attend and participate in faculty meetings/operational meetings of the School
  • Engage with students in the School of Disability Studies, the Faculty of Community Services, and broadly with Toronto Metropolitan University by fostering collaborative relationships, and opportunities for service.  
  • Write interim and final reports on fellowship achievements

The postdoctoral fellow will also be given the opportunity to have two teaching contracts in the School of Disability Studies per each year of their position. 

This opportunity is for a two year term beginning as early as September 1st, 2026. The postdoctoral fellow will have an office in the School of Disability Studies. This position can be held onsite or virtual, depending on the supervisor. 

Qualifications

  • The candidate will have completed a PhD (i.e. final draft submitted) or expect to do so by September 1, 2026, and is expected to establish a regular presence that facilitates full participation in the academic and cultural life of the School of Disability Studies. 
  • Candidates must have a demonstrated commitment to upholding the values of accessibility, decolonial practice and disability and racial justice as it pertains to all activities related to the Fellowship.

How to apply

Please email your application to Dr. Lynn Lavallee at lavallee@torontomu.ca by May 15, 2026. Applications should be submitted in screen readable PDF or word formats. In the subject line please indicate: Tanis Doe Post-Doctoral Fellow in Gender, Disability and Social Justice.

Applications should include:

  • A one page cover letter of application that describes the focus of your work including an articulation of how you are situated in relation to disability studies and/or mad studies;
  • Outline for a two-year program of activity that will advance disability, mad and/or Deaf studies scholarship highlighting the community-engaged aspects of the research program (500 words maximum)
  • A curriculum vitae in  (word file) OCGS format 
  • Two recent publications and/or creative product relevant to the application
  • Two letters of reference attesting to your capacity for post-doctoral research.

Please send any inquiries about the award via email to: 

Dr. Lynn Lavallee
lavallee@torontomu.ca
School of Disability Studies  
Toronto Metropolitan University 

We thank all candidates for their interest, however, only candidates who are invited to an interview will be contacted.

Toronto Metropolitan University’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

  • We encourage all First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples or Indigenous peoples of North America, to self-identify in their applications. If you are an Indigenous applicant and require support during the recruitment process, please reach out to James McKay, Indigenous HR Lead at james13@torontomu.ca.
  • Toronto Metropolitan University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and aims to ensure that independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity are embedded in all aspects of the university culture.
  • We will provide accessible experience for applicants, students, employees, and members of the Toronto Metropolitan University community. We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the recruitment process. If you have restrictions that need to be accommodated to fully participate in any phase of the recruitment process, please reach out to Human Resources: 
  • All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.